Sometimes serious. Sometimes humorous. Always unpredictable. By Dan Pimentel - Welcome to the Airplanista Aviation Blog, where I take a lighthearted look at general and business aviation, the airlines, and the incredible and generous community of aviators called #Avgeeks...they are my aviation family. I am currently available for magazine and corporate writing assignments - Email me here.

2:24 PM

The next big thing in reality television: “Last Airline Standing”

Logline: All of the major airlines in the United States are in a dog-eat-dog competition. In each week’s episode, they are pitted against one another in intense competitions and tests of skill as they fight to make a profit. At the end of each show, the CEOs meet on a beach lit with Tiki Torches to “vote off” one of the airlines. The remaining airlines then make secretive back-door deals, where the richest of the competitors buys out their weaker opponents, ultimately leaving one airline that will be named:

USAirwaysDeltaTWAmeriSouthwestPANAMerican

O.K., that is total B.S., but the story flying around the Internets today about a possible takeover bid by US Airways to scoop Delta up off the bankruptcy court floor and create the world’s largest airline is about that absurd.

To say that this merger would shake things up in commercial aviation would be a gross understatement. One quick change would be gate assignments:

Analysts said that to address regulators' antitrust concerns, the combined company would also need to forfeit airport gates up and down the East Coast. If U.S. Airways succeeds in its $8 billion bid for Delta Air Lines, there could be a lot of competition for gates that would be opened up at airports in Boston, New York and Washington.

This merger idea comes in the wake of US Airways snatching up America West, a move that has really ticked off the guys and gals that do their flying:

The US Airways and America West pilot groups will conduct informational picketing Thursday, November 16 in North Carolina and Arizona to demonstrate their increasing frustration with management's unwillingness to fully participate in negotiations for a fair, single contract that addresses the pilots' basic needs.

If you read some of the articles out there today, you can’t help but to agree with Captain Kevin Kent, chairman of the America West Master Executive Council. Kent thinks that maybe the top brass at US Airways are moving a touch too quickly right now:

"We recognize US Airways senior management's enthusiasm for a merger with Delta; however, before it can be successful, management must first focus on fulfilling the promises made to their investors, customers and employees for the America West-US Airways merger."

Mergers…Generally, I hate them, and this one is no exception. Because we all know that as lots of airlines merge into bigger and bigger mega-carriers, there will be less competition, and that means there is only one direction that fares can go, and that is way, way up.